larly on our low-lying moors in April, and were in every 

 way worse " vermin " than even the Grey Crows ; no 

 Highland keeper could express himself more strongly 

 in condemnation of any flying creature. Mr. T. E. 

 Buckley is quoted in ' Yarrell ' as saying that this Gull 

 eats a great deal of grain in the spring months in 

 Sutherland — a charge that I do not remember to have 

 heard made against any other species of the Gull-family. 

 For some reason that I have hitherto been unable to 

 discover, I have never managed to keep this Gull alive 

 at Lilford for any considerable length of time. In my 

 experience in our district of Northamptonshire, this is 

 the least common of the six species of Gull that 

 habitually visit our valley, but as the young birds are 

 not to be distinguished in the mottled plumage of their 

 first two or three years from those of the Herring-Gull, 

 I make this statement principally from the evidence of 

 my ears, as there is a very marked difference between 

 the cries of the two species. The Lesser Black-back 

 is common in certain parts of the Mediterranean, whilst 

 comparatively unknown in others ; I consider it to be 

 more frequent in the eastern than the western portion 

 of that sea, although we found it breeding in con- 

 siderable numbers on the little islet of Alboran. It 

 was constantly seen by our party on the south coast of 

 Cyprus in April and May. 



